Candlelight vigil held for victims of Connecticut shooting

CLAREMONT - The deadly Connecticut elementary school shooting which took the lives of 20 children may have taken place 3,000 miles away, but many in Southern California felt the pain and sorrow and they sought out a place to express their grief.

"Millions of lives including ours here in California have been touched, have been moved by this morning's decisions," said Eileen Gebbie, associate pastor at Claremont United Church of Christ where a candlelight vigil was held in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the Newton, Conn., mass shooting. "God is as grief-stricken as we are. God did not do this."

Dozens of people attended the Thursday night vigil. Some showed up alone while others arrived with their children.

"I feel so badly for the families," said David Cisneros, a church parishioner and former school principal. "There isn't much I can do but offer my prayers to them."

Cisneros and several others expressed their need to gather spiritual strength as they wrestled with the thought that a 20-year-old man, Adam Lanza, could in cold-blood, take the lives of 20 children and six adults.